Abstract:  A young dermatologist discovers that treating the patient may entail more than just examining his skin.  Sometimes, it is more important to treat the person than address the “chief complaint.” Keywords:  doctor-patient relationship, aneurysm, skin exam, IT’s a busy morning at the clinic. My next patient is a 62-year-old man. After some small talk, he quickly turns to the point of his visit: evaluation of suspicious skin lesions on his back. “I’m only here because my wife’s concerned about these two spots.  Otherwise, I feel fine.” He seems to be in a hurry, so I quickly examine his back and find only benign keratoses. When I offer to do … Continue reading →